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What’s the Latest Hepatitis C Research?

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Hepatitis C is a disease that causes liver inflammation. Those
with acute hepatitis C will notice an immediate onset of symptoms, while it may
take years before those with chronic hepatitis C notice any symptoms. In fact, about half of the 2.2 to
3.2 million people in the United States with chronic hepatitis C don’t know
they are infected with the virus.

Fortunately, getting tested for hepatitis C is a fairly
simple process and new treatments are making it easier to manage the virus.

Hepatitis C Testing

In 2012, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) expanded their recommendations for hepatitis C testing. The CDC now
recommends a one-time test for hepatitis C virus (HCV) for every person born
between 1945
and 1965. People born during this timeframe account for about 75 percent of
all HCV infections.

A simple blood test will indicate if you have hepatitis C.
Ask your doctor about getting tested if any of the following pertains to you:

you were born between 1945 and 1965

you’ve injected illegal drugs, even if you
injected just once

you’re a healthcare worker and encountered an accidental
needle sticks with HCV-infected blood

you were born to an HCV-infected women

you received blood transfusions or organ
transplants before 1992

you have HIV (the virus that causes AIDS)

you have any unexplained signs of liver disease
or symptoms of chronic HCV infection

New Treatment Regimens

A number of groundbreaking new medications for hepatitis C
have become available within the last few years. These new medicines are
rapidly changing the standard treatment approaches for people with hepatitis C.

The
standard treatment used to be a combination of two antiviral drugs: pegylated
interferon (PEG) and ribavirin.

This
original hepatitis C therapy, often called PEG/riba for short, took anywhere
from six months to a year to complete and had some severe side effects,
including:

fatigue

headache

nausea

insomnia

depression

anemia

The
therapy also wasn’t very effective and worked in less than half of
people with hepatitis C genotype 1, the most common type of hepatitis C in the
United States.

In
2011, the introduction of new drugs called direct-acting antivirals changed the
treatment approach. These medicines destroy the virus by stopping it from
making more copies of itself in the body.

Direct-acting
antivirals have fewer side effects than PEG/riba alone. In many cases, the new
medicines have shortened the amount of time needed to rid the body of HCV. They
may be used to treat hepatitis C alone or in combination with older therapies
depending on the type of hepatitis C.

Interferon-Free Therapies

The first all-oral, interferon-free therapies for people
with genotype 1 became available in late 2014. They are marketed as Harvoni
and Viekira
Pak.

Harvoni is a single tablet containing two drugs taken once a
day for 12 to 24 weeks.

Viekira Pak (a combination of three medicines) requires most
people to take four to six pills a day over 12 to 24 weeks. Both drugs have
been shown to cure hepatitis C in more than 90
percent of those with genotype 1.

Most people report only mild side effects, like headache and
fatigue, with these new drugs.